The college football season is upon us and the first game of the season for both the Sun Devils and the Lumberjacks pits the two Arizona schools in the first serving to the glorious buffet that fans have been yearning for since the final whistle blew to end the college football season months ago. Most people would see this as a live scrimmage, but there are intriguing parts to look into for both squads that could tell the story for the rest of the season.
ASU’s New Quarterback
The graduating Mike Bercovici left a serious gap in ASU’s talent level with their premier quarterback heading off to the draft and the San Diego Chargers. Todd Graham kept the knowledge of his new starter under wraps until he announced that it would be sophomore Manny Wilkins getting the start on Saturday night. Beating out redshirt-freshman Brady White, Wilkins looks to get a lot of the reps in the first live action in the season. Graham seemed to hint however that White could play in the second half pending the score of the game, so it could still be a wide open competition between the two young athletes. It is also still unknown as to when Bryce Perkins would be returning after his neck injury he suffered during the fall. At the end of the day, Graham could decide to run with a dual quarterback system for the early part of the season with great running backs like Demario Richard and Kalen Ballage. Once Perkins comes back from injury though, the final decision may just come down to who has the hottest hand among the group. The old saying goes if you have two quarterbacks, or in this case three, you have no quarterbacks.
Starting Off the Year Right
The lack of a concrete starter under center could play a huge role in the problem that stymied a team that last year was a dark horse for the Pac-12 title. Coach Graham and the Sun Devils were poised for a great season with high expectations but ended up stumbling out of the gate to put it lightly. Starting the year off against Texas A&M last year the Sun Devils dropped a huge opportunity to gain national notoriety by getting beaten to the tune of a 38 to 17 loss. The team never really found a rhythm after that and found themselves finishing the year off with only six wins on the year. This is a game where Graham might think about leaving the starters in a little later if the game turns into a blowout just to give his guys some confidence at the expense of NAU if only to give his team some extra fire to motivate them moving forward.
No Overlooking the Lumberjacks
Even though NAU is just an FCS school, which is almost dubbed the “minor leagues” of college football by some pundits, they are not a squad that can be taken lightly. The team ended last year with a 7 – 5 record and is picked to win the Big Sky conference by media outlets across the country. Already in the top 25 of the FCS Coaches’ Poll, the Jacks have a lot of motivation to make a statement. They have the players to do it as well. Case Cookus had a stellar freshman campaign with 37 touchdowns and only five picks in his first year under center. His favorite target has also returned to make the passing game a strong part of the game plan in Emmanuel Butler. Butler caught 15 touchdowns last season and he has a chance to start this year with a bang as ASU’s pass defense was statistically the worst in all of the FBS. While ASU is undefeated in the last four meetings with NAU, that fear of repeating last year’s A&M performance might still rest in the minds of those putting on the pitchfork.
Prediction: ASU 42 – NAU 28
The game will be played at Sun Devil Stadium on the Pac-12 Network with kickoff starting at 7:45 PM Arizona time.